It is known that, particularly for laying cables or pipes underground, it is necessary to open trenches in the ground. For that, trenching machines include a motor driven chassis, for example a tractor, on which is mounted a trenching wheel able to be driven in rotation and having at its periphery a plurality of tools for digging the ground.
The tools are either fixed directly to the periphery of the wheel, generally by welding, or are fixed to removable ring portions evenly spaced apart about the periphery of the wheel, said portions being bolted to said wheel.
In the first case, it is impossible to replace a broken tool or change the type of tool for others, as a function of the nature of the ground met with. It is then necessary to change the whole wheel.
It the second case, although the portions carrying the tools may be changed, it requires, because of the use of bolts, careful handling (screwing, unscrewing of the bolts, cooperation of the threads with each other. . . ) often carried out under difficult conditions, requiring a considerable time for carrying out the replacement.
The present invention overcomes these drawbacks and provides a trenching wheel, in which the fitting and removal of the removable ring portions carrying the tools can be carried out easily and rapidly.